Saturday, November 26, 2011

Got some pro painting tips from concept cohorts Joshua James Shaw, Sean McNally and Tara Rueping. My kung fu is still weak compared to theirs, but it's a step in the right direction. More painty, less digital-y.

Used some sketches from my earlier post to paint over -- will definitely need to spend 50% more time at this stage. My desire is to arrive at a "fresh" color style that's presentable and relatively unlabored, because rendering is boring. More to come!

Realized I can't draw women with their legs crossed, which is a pretty essential thing to know. Gonna get right on that. I suspect it has something to do with drawing them as a single unit, then "clipping" their geometry slightly so the fat mashes together pleasingly.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The short story : A month ago I quit Blizzard after one year of service. This wasn't exactly my plan, but my hand was more or less forced. That's as far as I can discuss it publicly. I've a few promising leads -- have been interviewing here and there -- but want to see what posting this does. Call it an experiment.

If anyone's got a suggestion/contact, I'm currently seeking a full-time position doing concept art*, and would love to hear from you personally at the following address :djunderfoot(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Yesterday I was privileged to attend a day-long Dr. Sketchy's lifedrawing function called "Nerdgasm" -- chosen because of the various "nerdy" costumes the models wore, and because all us "nerdy" artists were meant to cream ourselves as we drew.

-Glenn Arthur is the most enthusiastic moderator of any lifedrawing function ever. He's also quite the draftsman. Go to the Anaheim chapter any 2nd or 4th Sunday and experience his charisma firsthand!

-The models got progressively inventive/attractive throughout the day, culminating with a girl who went by "Phoebe L'amour." Several of you who were there probably heard me gushing about her over-the-top "zingy"ness. It's ironic how so few lifedrawing models possess such liveliness. ((Side note : my favorite moment of the entire day was seeing her nibble the tip of a magic wand.)))

-The places I wanted to draw the model from were often the same places people needed to be walking back and forth between to reach the booze and/or bathroom.

-Lots of effort was made to *photograph* the models, less to actually draw them into pleasing pictures. The function needed to be documented for some upcoming magazine spread, so this made more sense than usual. Plus, most of the models were simply wearing more than could be drawn, even in the longer poses. I severly doubt the people painting in the 3 hour outdoor session were able to depict a fraction of the steampunk junk piled onto "Apoca-lips."

-Amateurs go for the incidentals -- the "stuff" on the costumes, irrelevant shadows -- and forget they're supposed to be drawing a beautiful woman. The result is labored and dead. Makes me think of that line in Napoleon Dynamite "It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done."

-Pros (or at least people who know how to make the best use of their time) go for gesture and get their girls looking cute right away. The result is direct and fresh. Look at Shane Glines, Otto Schmidt or Bill Presing. Their drawings are all hot, five lines in. There were a few people at this session who understood this, but most were FAR AWAY from this critical realization. You can argue with me all you want, but "beautiful" should really be the end goal.

-All that said, it wasn't supposed to be art school. It's the self-proclaimed "anti-art school" -- no rules, no pressure. Drink a beer, eat a brownie. I'm sure everyone got something beautiful out the experience, even if it was only a memory to "nerdgasm" to at a later time.

Thinking of it this way helps me construct a bit faster out of my imagination, without resorting to looking at pictures, or even my own hand.

Following exercises will plant the hand on a greater variety of surfaces. Seems like a good idea to draw out some plane, curvature or object to map the hand onto/around. Or some trinket to have it grasp.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Helped this model get a gig at Blizzard, where she was warmly received. Felt good.

Oliver Chipping and I had some good art talk, which is surprisingly hard to come by in lifedrawing sessions. While I was flapping my jaw, he was getting a lot more done. Above are the few drawings I felt were fit to reproduce.